


Idle Threats

by Witchy74woman



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Halloween
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:54:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27272260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Witchy74woman/pseuds/Witchy74woman
Summary: When Pansy starts receiving threatening notes, she turns to Theo to help her figure out who's behind them and how to stop them.
Relationships: Theodore Nott/Pansy Parkinson
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7
Collections: 2020 Wicked Witches Of Hogwarts





	Idle Threats

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you Charlie9646 for editing and encouraging me.   
> This was written for The Wicked Witches of Hogwarts fest.  
> Thank you so much for reading, I had this idea in my head and just couldn't get it out. 
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Harry Potter franchise.

Pansy walked into her dormitory and sat down on her bed. Starting to lay down, trying to relax before she went down to the great hall for dinner. She felt something on her pillow. Pansy saw the envelope lying there and a chill went down her spine. She hadn’t received a letter in a few weeks, thinking it was over, but here was another one.

_I bet you thought you were safe._

_This isn’t over until I get my revenge._

_It won’t be long until I have you locked away waiting for death._

Pansy stared at the letter for a while. This was the most threatening one that she had ever gotten. At first thinking it was a joke, they had started coming as soon as eight year had begun. Assuming it was someone trying to scare her because they were upset she tried to turn Potter over last year, but now they were escalating. Pansy had kept it to herself, but maybe now it was time to tell someone else. She wasn’t sure who to tell though, it's not like she had “that” many friends left now.

On her way down for dinner Pansy looked for that tell tale white blonde hair, hoping that maybe Draco might be able to help her. Spotting him walking past a suit of armor, she reached out to grab his arm before he passed. He spun around quickly looking down at her with an expression of disgust.

“what do you want, Pansy?”

She gaped at him, “Draco, I need your help.”

He pulled his arm away from her grasp, “go ask someone else, we aren’t together anymore.”

“Please, this isn’t about that.” Pansy cried. “I don’t know who else I can trust or go to, someone is threatening me.”

He stared at her with his eyebrows raised, clearly skeptical.

“I’m not joking, Draco. I’ve been getting letters since we started this year, I think someone is going to hurt me.” She begged her old friend. 

“Pansy, I left you for Astoria. We’re already engaged to be married. It’s done, this pathetic attempt to get my attention is way below you.” And with that he turned to walk away.

Pansy felt tears stinging her eyes. There was a small crowd forming and she refused to cry in front of them. She held her head high as she walked back to the slytherin common room, no longer having an appetite for dinner. When she walked in she went straight to one of the arm chairs near the fireplace and let a few of the tears fall. It was bad enough to have Draco cheat on her with Astoria over the summer, but now they were engaged, by the end of the day the school would know and they would think she was pathetic enough to make excuses to talk to him.

“if you’re going to cry could you do it a little quieter?”

Pansy whipped around in the chair to see who the voice belonged to, “Theo, I didn’t realize anyone else was in here.”

“Clearly, I was hoping for some quiet while everyone was gone but apparently that’s not going to happen.” he said. 

Getting up to leave and go to the girl’s dormitory, Theo reached out to stop her, “since you already interrupted me, you may as well tell me what’s wrong”

Normally she would say no, she would walk away and act like this never happened, but today she really needed someone to talk to.

“Draco’s an ass and-“

“I knew that already.” he interrupted.

“-I tried to tell him about someone threatening me and he blamed it on me wanting him back, and on top of that did it in front of people so now everyone can talk about poor Pansy Parkinson who got left by Draco Malfoy.”

“Wait,” theo stopped her, “did you say someone is threatening you?”

Pansy looked at Theo skeptically, not sure if she could trust him but deciding ultimately she didn’t have anyone else to turn to now.

“Yes, it started at the beginning of the year, about a letter a week. I thought they would stop but they just keep getting more threatening.”

She showed Theo the latest letter and he looked up at her after reading it, “You have to tell someone about this.”

“I did, I told you.” Pansy said flippantly.

“Pansy, you have to tell someone that can help. This is serious.”

“who’s going to believe me, Theo? The girl who tried to give up ‘The Chosen One’ to the Dark Lord, no one trusts me” Pansy murmured with her head down.

He stood up and grabbed her hand and started walking towards the exit of the common room.

“where are we going?”

“To talk to McGonagall, she may not believe you,however, I stood against my dad last year, so she has no reason not to believe me.”

Eyeing him skeptically but Pansy followed him nonetheless. She talked to him the whole way to the headmistresses office, explaining more about the letters and what she thought was going on. Along with who she thought may be behind them.

When they got to the statue asking for the password Theo looked at her, “are you sure you’re ready to do this? I won’t force you, I just want to help.”

She nodded her head hesitantly, “Are you ready? You don’t have to be involved in this, I don’t want to pull you in and put you in danger.”

Theo grabbed her hand again and said the password to go up to the office.

It turned out that McGonagall believed everything they said. She kept pansy’s letters and told her to inform her immediately if she received another one. She also said she would contact the aurors office and let them know so they could start an investigation if things continued to escalate.

The week passed by pretty quickly. Pansy tried to ignore all the gossip that was going around about her being left by Draco. So far she had heard that she was far too pug-faced and unattractive for him so that was why he left her, that she had slept around all summer and he left her because of that, and that he refused to have someone in a “lower class” marry him. As if her family weren’t also members of the sacred 28. She could tell everyone the truth, that she had come home early from Paris excited to tell her boyfriend about the design internship she had been offered after school when she floo’d into his drawing room to find him and Astoria naked on the couch together. She could have told them about the very unsavory things she found them doing, or that the reason Astoria didn’t come to school this year was because she was already knocked up with the Malfoy heir. But what would that do? Just bring about more questions, more judgement, and make her look extremely jealous or have people pity her. No, it was better to just walk past and pretend she couldn’t hear anyone.

At least Theo had been sticking beside her, she wasn’t walking down the halls alone anymore. They spent most of their meals in the Slytherin common room together instead of in the Great Hall. It wasn’t until Professor Slughorn mentioned the Halloween Ball that they even knew about it.

“Merlin, Theo, that's only two weeks away. We’ll be expected to go.”

“Let’s go together,” he said while slipping his hand into hers.

She was actually excited. It was something to finally look forward to this year, and she thought she may be actually developing feelings for Theo. Pansy went to her dorm room thinking about what she might wear to the dance when Pansy was stopped cold, finding another letter on her bed.

This one was spelled in red ink,

_You told someone about me?_

_That wasn’t very nice._

_Just a little while longer until I have you trapped._

_You’ll be begging to die._

_I left you a parting gift in your trunk._

She was terrified as she walked to the end of her bed. Pansy thought about calling for Theo before she opened the trunk, but the adrenaline pushed her forward. Pulling the lid open, looking inside she screamed and slammed it shut. She ran to Theo’s dorm and began banging on the door.

He opened it so quickly she fell into him, “what’s wrong, Pans? What happened?”

Sobbing she said, “Lilith, they killed Lilith. She’s in my trunk.”

He sat her down as he walked to her room to see what she was talking about, when he opened the trunk to see the mangled bleeding owl he threw up on the floor.

They called McGonagall and she decided it was time to call the aurors in so they could formally start their investigation. Whoever was writing these letters had written this one in the owl’s blood.

Harry Potter and Ron Weasley came into the room a few hours later.

“Don’t you think this is a conflict of interest?” Theo asked them, “you don’t like Pansy, someone else should be looking into this case.”

Harry came to look at Pansy, “If you would rather we get someone else to investigate then we will. But, I can promise you that I can put our past behind us and focus on this case. Ron and I know this school better than anyone else in the department right now because we were just here, but if you would rather us change then we can.”

Pansy looked up at him and over at Theo, they shared a look and she turned back to Harry, “I’m sorry for last year,” tears started welling up in her eyes, “I was scared, but I’m more scared now. I would rather you both be on the case if you’re the most qualified for it.” Her voice broke as she said, “I just want this to be over.”

She showed Harry and Ron the other letters she had received over the weeks and they both agreed that whoever was doing this was escalating. They told her they would take them back to the ministry, that they would try to get some information from the letters to determine who was sending them, and in the meantime if she received any other letters she needed to let McGonagall know immediately.

The next week went by pretty uneventful, Pansy went to her classes and ate her meals with Theo. She made sure she was never alone except for when she was sleeping at night, and even then she had her dorm mates with her.

Theo had tried to convince her they didn’t need to go to the ball, but she told him she wasn’t going to let whoever this was ruin her night with him. Saturday morning after breakfast Pansy headed back to her room to get ready for a trip to Hogsmeade to look for a dress for the Halloween Ball. She grabbed her scarf and turned to head out of the room when she caught sight of the door she stopped in her tracks. There was another note stuck to the back of her door, she moved closer to read what it said.

_I warned you not to tell anyone else._

_You don’t seem to be taking me seriously, but you will._

_Six days and you’ll see how much you regret what you did._

_I hope you enjoy your night, it will be your last one out._

Six days… that was the day of the ball.

Pansy went to Theo’s room and then together they went straight to McGonagall’s office. She called the auror department and Harry and Ron floo’d in within minutes.

“Well, it’s clear Miss Parkinson should not attend the ball next weekend.” McGonagall said, “I’m sorry Pansy, but whoever this is has something planned for that evening and I want to keep you safe.”

Harry interrupted, “Not necessarily Professor, this would be a good opportunity for us to figure out who’s behind this. They messed up when they told us what night they would be attacking, now we can make a plan to stop them and arrest them. We can bring in a few aurors that night and use a disillusionment charm, we can keep an eye on everything going on without people noticing us. If Pansy is in trouble we can step in and take whoever it is into custody.”

Pansy and Theo walked hand in hand to Hogsmeade after leaving McGonagall’s office. On the way there they saw Draco walking back to the castle.

“Pansy, you finally found someone to believe your ridiculous story? I wouldn’t give you the attention you wanted so you had to downgrade to Theo. You two deserve each other, you’re both pathetic.” With that he walked away.

Theo looked at Pansy, “don’t let him get to you. He’s on probation, if he makes one wrong move it’s Azkaban for life.”

Nodding her head and she kept walking, _honestly_ , she had more problems to think about than Draco being petty.

As the week went on she became more and more nervous, _would this actually work or would she end up getting hurt?_

The night of the ball Pansy sat in her room getting ready by herself, she did her hair and makeup and started to put her dress on. She had picked a black v-neck gown with a long lace see through top and sleeves, the middle cinched with an empire waist and the bottom flared with black tulle. Theo told her she looked like an angel of death and that’s what made her choose it.

Pansy walked out of her room and into the common room to meet Theo, he stared at her, at a loss of words for awhile, “….you look stunning.”

She smiled and took his arm while they made the walk down to the great hall. They discussed the plan for the night and he relieved her fears that something would go wrong.

They walked into the great hall and chose a table to sit for a while. The band was playing and soon Pansy wanted to dance. They knew the aurors were on the sidelines watching but they couldn’t see them, if they looked carefully they could see a few shimmers when one of them moved, but you would have to be looking for them.

As they were dancing Pansy almost forgot there was a threat, dancing with Theo was the happiest she had been in a long time.

“Are you ready?” He asked her, smiling.

She nodded and he started to spin her. Pansy laughed and tilted her head back until she ran into someone. She turned quickly and started to apologize until she realized it was Draco.

“I just can't seem to get away from you can I?” he asked while looking down his nose at her.

Theo put his arm in front of Pansy pushing her back, “what is your problem, Malfoy? I’m getting really sick of your attitude with her. For someone who says he wants nothing to do with her it sure seems like you are around a lot.”

“Stay out of it, Nott. You have no idea what you’re talking about, if you want my sloppy seconds that’s your prerogative.”, Draco sneered.

Theo lunged for Draco and pushed him, he looked shocked before pushing him back. McGonagall started to come over and Theo grabbed him by the sleeves to pull him close, “you’re lucky we’re in school because if we weren’t this would be far from over.”

Theo walked away pulling Pansy with him but not before she slipped something into Draco’s hand.

“I think I need some air,” she said looking at Theo.

Theo took her towards the door and headed outside towards the grounds. 

Harry ran up behind them, “are you guys okay?”, he asked.

“I’m fine, Harry. Thank you. I just need to step outside away from everything for a moment.”, Pansy answered him, a little jittery.

Harry looked at Pansy, surveying her before answering, “Okay, I’ll come check on you both in just a few minutes. I don’t want you out of sight for too long”

Theo and Pansy walked the grounds for a while until they ended up by the bleachers of the quidditch pitch.

“Did you get it?” Pansy asked him.

Theo looked down at her with a smile, “Of course, are you sure he’s coming?”

She laughed, “absolutely, I slipped him the note and there’s no way he’s not coming. I told him if he didn’t I would tell everyone what he’s hiding.”

They heard someone coming, “time to go hide,” Pansy said with a quick kiss on Theo’s cheek before he left.

“Alright Pansy, I thought we were done with this, you’re not going to blackmail me anymore. So what’s this going to take?”

“Thanks for coming, Draco. I don’t know what you could possibly offer me that would make me want to keep Astoria’s pregnancy a secret. It doesn’t seem like I’m really getting anything from this. You cheated on me, you left me and didn’t have the decency to keep it a secret, and your girlfriend is pregnant. I don’t exactly want the best for you right now.”

Draco smirked at her, “We’re getting married during Christmas break, no one will believe you after that anyway. You’ll just look more pathetic than you already do.”

“See, I thought about that.” She laughed menacingly, “I think my pride and reputation has taken enough of a hit lately, I’m the girl who tried to turn Harry Potter over to The Dark Lord last year. Who would believe me… unless something changed, unless I could garner some sympathy. What better way to do that than to have a stalker trying to scare and hurt me? To get the chosen one himself to help me find and capture my attacker? There’s just one more thing to handle, who to take the blame? Who would I want to be held responsible for this? Who has wronged me so much lately that I need a little revenge? And here we are, this is going to hurt you a lot more than me.”

“What are you----”

Then Theo came forward, “ _sectumsempra_ ”

Blood started pouring out of Pansy’s body, she fell to the ground and there was a huge gash running down her torso. Draco’s eyes widened as he searched for his wand in his sleeve and couldn’t find it.

“Draco, what is the counter curse? Tell me so I can save her!”, Theo yelled.

Draco scrambled, panicking, “I can’t find my wand, what did you do?”

“I was aiming for you, just tell me the counter so I can help her.”

“ _Vulnera Sanentur_ ”, Draco yelled back.

As Theo started saying the incantation over Pansy the aurors came running over.

Theo looked up at Harry, “Potter, thank Merlin you’re here. Draco just attacked Pansy.”

Draco whipped his head around, “what? No I did not, Theo tried to attack me and hit Pansy by mistake.”

“Check his wand then! The last spell used was Sectumsempra. He followed Pansy and I out here and started yelling that she wouldn’t be able to tell everyone Astoria was pregnant if she was dead.”

“I can’t even find my wand, Potter”, Draco said, tears in his eyes.

Harry bent down by Draco’s feet and picked up his wand, he performed the charm and saw the last spell used was sectumsempra.

Harry eyed Draco, “If you’re going to try to hide your wand Malfoy, you should try harder next time.”

Draco looked panicked, he started to run.

“ _Incarcerous_ ” Harry yelled. 

He fell to the ground tied up with his face near Pansy.

“Pans, tell them I didn’t do this.” He pleaded.

Pansy laid there breathing heavy, the pain from the curse made crying easier, “I can’t believe you’re the one that’s been threatening me. I knew you moved on but I didn’t think you could do this to me.”

He looked at her astonished as she whispered to him, “Maybe next time you won’t screw someone else, enjoy Azkaban.”

The aurors leaned down and grabbed Draco to take him away, “he stole my wand! She’s crazy, she completely made this up! Potter, you have to believe me.”

Harry just rolled his eyes as the men holding Draco apparated away.

He leaned down to talk to Pansy, “I’m so sorry we didn’t get here in time to stop him from cursing you.”

“It’s fine, I’m just glad this is all over now.”

Theo picked Pansy up and looked at Harry, “I’m going to take her up to the hospital wing now. Thank you for believing her and keeping her safe.”

They started walking away as Harry Apparated back to the ministry.

Her fellow Slytherin looked at her, “how are you doing? Are you still in pain?”

“A little,” she said “but this was completely worth it.”


End file.
